In the Fray 3: Interstellar Being
by Perplexium
Summary: Third installment of my "ITF" Series.
1. Proxy Connection

In the Fray: Interstellar Being

**Chapter 1: Proxy Connection**

I don't know why I've come to my current form, but I just know I was targeted by Fate. I didn't even believe in Fate until I visited a particular store. I was 16 at the time, but that was so long ago that I don't really remember what I had looked like. I'm getting ahead of myself now… Listen to my story and you will soon know.

I, Matt, am 25. I had a collection of one type of item... COSTUMES. I don't even know how I came to collect them. Maybe it was that time when I was 8 and I had seen spectacular things at a costume convention. There were costumes that looked so real; they could have been creatures themselves. ALL OF THEM WERE HOMEMADE. How can you possibly achieve that level of quality with costumes? Anyways, my fad for costumes would not stop, I have collected many costumes, some common, but few rare, unique, or of high quality.

On a normal day, after my day's work at Wal-Mart, I came home at 6:00 P.M. to look across the internet in search of more costumes to put in my collection. I googled "rare unique costumes for sale" and to my surprise that night on year 1999 AD, there was a web store I had not checked on the top of the list. It read: "Magic Shop 101 – **Rare and unique** items of magical qualities **for sale. **This wide variety of magical items including: **costumes,** balloons, eggs, plushies, potions, trinkets, and more!" I had nothing better to do, so I clicked on the link towards the site.

My screen went black, my lights went out. Blackout had occurred. Suddenly, the sound of my CPU started filling the room. It grew louder and louder, till I thought my eardrums would rupture. It all stopped. My monitor suddenly exploded with light, ejecting a hologram in front of me. When I attempted to touch it, a wave of light came out from where I touched the hologram.

"Would you like to buy anything?" The voice echoed around my room, making me jump.

"U-m-mm-mm-m….." I stuttered, unsure what to say.

"Browse, touch the talk button in the top-right corner when you're done. Nobody ever comes here without buying anything."

"Okay….." That was weird.

I touched the "Stock" button next to "Home" and then selected the subcategory "Costumes".

An array of items filled the screen. The costumes there were simply _amazing_. Nothing on this planet should have been able to create costumes of this detail! There was a "Lugia" costume that looked exactly like the one in Pokémon, except it was much more detailed. Another had a "Flammie" tag on it, it looked like a dragon, except it was furry, had TWO pairs of wings, and a short, fat tail; it looked cute. There was this other costume, labeled "TerraFlux Armor" I had seen this somewhere before! I could just reach it, but not grasp what is was. It had a full body cover, a glowing cube at a side, and triple pockets, its coloring was almost pure black, its visor was a transparent black, had two huge holes for what I assumed would be ears, and a tail hole poked out at the back. I placed my hand on the "scroll bar" to the right and went down to read the description. It read:

"This is second to top armor in the Lombax series of ingenious armor. This is the exact one worn by the savior of his home galaxy and the Bogon galaxy. This is guaranteed reduction all damage, physical and mental, by 55 percent, or your money back."

Now I remember! I saw this in the Ratchet and Clank series! I forgot which game though. "Lombax" was Ratchet's lost species, even though he met one of his own in the second game.

I scrolled all the way up and placed two fingers on the "Talk" button.

"You have chosen TerraFlux Armor," said the voice. How did it know I wanted that one?!

"Uh… yes...," I was getting nervous talking to this voice.

"Pay $7.50 upon delivery. I bid you good day."

Suddenly, my power came back on and my CPU stopped making that obnoxious noise. A huge BOOM was heard outside. I rushed to my backdoor, trying to find the source of the sound. A creature of short stature greeted me at the portal to the outside.

"7.50 in your human currency, please," it said. I looked past him, trying to find the crater, but it was flat like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I reached for my wallet, pulled out a five and three ones and gave it to the creature, who promptly stuffed it into its pockets, and handed me a body-sized box and disappeared into thin air with a loud BOOM.

I opened the box and found inside an object that would completely turn my life around…

(Author's Note: My computer's still trashed with spyware.)


	2. Debugging

(Author's Note: I GOT RID OF THE _**TROJANS**_! I had to do a freaking _**FULL SYSTEM RESTORE**_. Sorry about the waiting in updating, the Trojans messed up my IE7.)

**Chapter 2: "Debugging…"**

Inside the box was the costume, another addition to my ever expanding collection of realistic items. The feel was of cool, untarnished metal, but not like steel, _this_ metal was truly a work of art. Someone must have taken a lot of pride in making this, but just to sell it for $7.50 (Note that earlier, he gave that "thing" $8; that was my mistake.). It was in even more detail than that weird hologram depicted, there were no fingerprints on it, despite my touching it, no dust, and no rust, nothing that would place it at a lower value! There must have been a charm or something to that effect placed on this priceless item.

As always, I had to see if the costume looked good on me. I had no idea what the maker was thinking putting these holes for ears and tail here. They know very well, I hope, that no human could fill it in.

As I pulled the costume out of its container, there was something on its back I didn't see before. A life-sized Clank was attached to the back of the suit! He was shiny metallic, had two black ports for arms, and his feet tucked inside. The head poked out, but without his glowing red receiver/transmitter. I guess this was his energy-saving or packaging mode.

Taking a closer look at Clank, to the side of him, there was a sticker that read, "Nuclear Batteries included. Slot it into the port behind this." Now I really WAS curious. There was no way this thing would actually work, was there; and what did they mean by "Nuclear Batteries"?

The suit was warm to the touch, glowing green at the place between elbow and wrist and on the chest.

"_**How do you put this thing on?!?" **_

I struggled to find an entrance point. There was no place in which I could slip my body in! I held it in the air, trying to find the point of access. Suddenly, I felt the suit melt under my fingers, enveloping my skin, making me feel a strange numbness. It started bonding with me, starting with my arm. My body went limp as the armor shut down my nervous system, leaving me helpless. The cool metal slid up my arm, spreading like spilled milk. All of the parts it touched went completely numb, causing me to panic.

I fell unconscious as the metal moved up my neck.

"Where am I?" I felt delusional, confused, scared.

"You, my friend, are in Calistmo, the place of unconsciousness, also known as the Dream Realm," Someone or some_thing _was speaking to me, "You have not seen this dimension before because before you could not reach out. You are now an immortal, a messenger, to be precise. You may rise."

I felt my conscious mind reaching out to me again. "Wait! Who are you? Why am I here? What do you mean by immortal?" The world went black for a split second, and then I was looking through my own eyes again.

"Whoa… what a crazy dream…"

My body felt unnatural, heavy and hot. Looking around, I got up and made my way to the bathroom to try to get my body to cool down. When I looked in the mirror, I almost _died_ from the shock I received. I was a Lombax! I rubbed my now blue eyes in disbelief. I walked out of the bathroom to check on the box, trying to find something that would explain this.

Inside was a little glowing cube that I had not seen before. I reached in to pick it up, and right when I touched it, it flashed extremely bright. When I mustered up the courage to peek back inside, the cube had projected a hologram just like when I visited that store. It said: "Debugging…" When it disappeared, the cube stared to project what I thought looked like a scanner. It ran across the room and when it was done, it rang out in a monotone voice, "Inadequate space."

"Hmm…" against common judgment, I brang it outside just to see what it did.

Again, the cube scanned its surroundings, taking its precious time doing so. When the scanner reached the starting point again, it rang out again, "Deploying," I backed off instinctively. The cube exploded in size, unfolding, and emitting a very bright red light. After the light died down, I looked at the aftermath of the deployment. A ship had come from the cube!


	3. Inaugaration

**Chapter 3: Inauguration**

"Hello. Long time no see, Ratchet." The ship's monotone voice directed was towards me. Ratchet… now it dawns on me; this was HIS body, somehow transferred onto my own.

"I see your escape plan worked." I suddenly feel a second presence in my own mind, reaching over to speak.

"Yes, Himo. (I forgot Ratchet's ship's real name in "Tools of Destruction, if anyone knows, please tell me.) Of course it has." The voice floating out of my mouth was not my own, but a stronger, more confident one, and furthermore, I, myself did not speak. "Did you store some spare nuclear batteries for Clank?"

"Yes, I have, please, climb in." My legs started moving, not of my own command.

_Where are you taking me?!?_ I was panicking, trying to address the other presence in my mind.

_To work._ Ratchet replied simply.

No matter how much I tried, I could not break Ratchet's control of the body.

Once inside the ship, I felt control seeping back to me. This is my chance! I tried to make a break for it, but as soon as I reached the edge of the cockpit, some cylindrical arms pulled me back. One of them did not try to reach for me, but instead reached for something inside my home, taking Clank out. Another arm took out a glowing green pack and shoved it into the hole for the batteries in Clank. He shuddered, jerking his body all over the place, then, when he settled down, his arms, legs, and head came out of their hiding places.

"Where am I?" Clank started looking around, trying to search his memory bank for a match for the surroundings.

The cylindrical arms then started to pull Clank and me back into the ship, with a seat belt tightly strapping me in place.

"Destination?" inquired the ship.

"Boby ogxubqg ir axozoib," replied Clank. (Author's Note: This is letter substitution; you can find the key for the letters at the bottom.)

"Destination confirmed."

Suddenly, we were over another area, a place with one center island and eight other islands facing north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-west, west, and north-west. The ship descended onto the soft sand on the coast of the center island.

_I see you have arrived._

The voice flowed around my mind, echoing again and again inside.

_But before you can come back, you must complete your work. Your ship will brief you._

What? What the heck was this voice talking about?

"Running mission 1," the ship rang out, "Ratchet, you will need to use the Spiderbot EMP bomb on an airplane and maneuver it to the central island. Teleport the pilot onto the island, but knock him out. Teleport the plane back to the hangar along with the passengers, but one passenger goes to the West Island, his name is Purim Monch. I will identify this particular person when we get there.

"Umm…. Okay…" My voice wavered and stuttered because I was nervous about what was to happen.

**END OF CHAPTER**

**Key for the letters I am substituting for (Feel free to post the translation in the reviews):**

**a-u n-b**

**b-n o-i**

**c-p p-c**

**d-q q-d**

**e-y r-f**

**f-r s-g**

**g-s t-h**

**h-t u-a**

**i-o v-j**

**j-v w-k**

**k-w x-l**

**l-x y-e**

**m-z z-m**


	4. Rise of Intriotic

**Chapter 4: Rise of Intriotic**

"So where are we going?" I asked, holding onto the arms of my chair for comfort.

"Interception of Flight 608 which will be heading towards Brazil shortly; your job is to mount a spiderbot EMP bomb on the plane to disable it, then you can take control of it with my own control panel. Make sure that the pilot gets knocked unconscious, because HE is the one y-"

"I don't need a whole recap of the mission. I already have it memorized." I cut the computer off.

"As you say…" The computer replied, unenthusiastic, "We have arrived."

"Wait a moment! Won't they see us?" I shouted, sweating.

"Not with the camouflage turned on, Ratchet."

"You don't have to be so matter-of-factly." I said, annoyed.

Again, the feeling of losing control over my body flooded.

_What is it this time? _I asked Ratchet.

_This mission can't have mistakes, I have to do this myself to make sure this mission does not fail._ He was calm, not like in the games at all, in which he would just scream and charge towards his enemies, live for the moment, everything like that.

"Send me down with an invisibility orb, I need for this one." Ratchet said, out of nowhere.

"Welcome back, Ratchet." The computer detected the change in tone of voice, indicating the change in ownership of the body.

He/I strapped on Clank, who held a light-bending orb inside his holding chamber.

"Let's go," Ratchet said out loud.

_You're going to jump from all the way up HERE?_ I panicked, frightened.

_Well, you should have seen the jumps I made back when I was very active…_ He said in response.

Swiftly, Ratchet landed on the plane without a sound and scurried over to a spot near the cockpit. He took out a glove and shot out of it onto the plane a metallic spider. He punched in a few buttons and the spider expelled glue from its legs, anchoring itself onto the plane.

"Now for the receiver…" mumbled Ratchet. He took out of a glowing cube a glowing-blue disk. He immediately disabled the lights on the disk, got up, and spoke.

"Clank, full thrust towards the ship." Clank rumbled, using the batteries to generate fuel for the rocket thrusters. Then, "BOOM!" The sound from the initial thrust waved throughout the airport.

"HEY! What was that?" A voice came from down below.

"Oops, forgot to put the silencer on Clank…" mentioned Ratchet.

"Well remember next time," intoned Clank.

We flew towards a red blip on Ratchet's visor, which located where the ship was. The ship came back into view once we were inside.

"Preparations set." Ratchet stated.

We waited inside the ship for hours on end, waiting for the airplane to be boarded and cleared for takeoff. When the plane started running down the runway, Ratchet submitted a combination of commands onto the glove that shot the spiderbot. From a close-up using a camera on top of the spiderbot, I could tell it was hammering at the airplane's outer shell and dropped a glowing green object and the blue disk attached that was attached to the ship. It then promptly sealed up the hole with more glue, and then disintegrated the glue on its legs, making it fly off the plane and into the sky, where it will eventually meet its match with the ground.

**1 hour later**

We were tailing the plane now, still invisible, waiting for the optimal time to take control of the plane.

"The plane will be at its closest to the islands in approximately 10 minutes," chimed the computer, breaking the silence.

"I think we need to use the EMP now, Ratchet," suggested Clank, "It is much better to do it now than at the last minute."

"How so?" Ratchet asked back.

"It reduces the risk of failing the mission," said Clank.

"Fine, have it your way," replied Ratchet, obviously wanting to avoid an argument. He then flipped switches on the ship and started veering away from the plane.

"EMP ready. Receiver ready. All set." Ratchet said, "Detonation of EMP in 3…2…1…*beep*."

_That's it? I heard no explosion!_ I was confused.

_What, you expected a big explosion?_ Inquired Ratchet, _If you heard an explosion, the plane would probably be going down, now._

He flipped the ship's panel to a new one.

"Let's see…" he mumbled as he worked around the controls. The plane started heading into the Bermuda Triangle, towards the islands. "Hit this, take out that... remove this…"

When the plane was almost to the islands, he hit a big, shiny red button on his controls. The plane turned nose-down.

_What are you doing!?!_ I yelled frantically.

_Following orders, now if you don't mind, I have to finish this_.

The plane's wing started falling apart, flaming, the plane looked like a fireball from the friction, and there was screaming to be heard. One of the plane's wing pieces was warped in blue and reappeared in front of the cockpit.

"Gotta make that slower…" He said. The piece hit the pilot, knocking him unconscious.

As the plane neared the central island, Ratchet hit two blue buttons at the same time, one teleporting the pilot out, the other teleporting the plane back to the hangar.

**(**A/N: **AND SO NOW WE KNOW WHAT THAT "THUMP" in ITF1 was!**)


End file.
